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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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TUESDAY - Feb 1, 2000
Ummi makes her presence felt
Lee Tse Yin
Feb 1: The woman who played a key role in precipitating the downfall of
Anwar Ibrahim was the surprise "guest speaker" at Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad?s meet-the-students session last Sunday in London. Ummi
Hafilda, well-known for her candy-coloured suits during Anwar?s trial,
gave an impassioned two-minute speech defending her role in nudging
former driver Azizan Abu Bakar to accuse Anwar of sodomy, among other
things. LEE TSE YIN was there to report for malaysiakini in this final
of a two-part series.
Question time continues. A law student asks what effect Karpal Singh's
possible conviction will mean for the judiciary, and if this means
lawyers will now have to go through a screening process before they can
speak in court to defend their client.
"There is a peculiar belief among certain of us that opposition people
should be exempt from the law," Dr M says, "That you should not take
action against the opposition because they are the opposition. But as
you know in Malaysia, many government ministers have been brought to
court, tried and found guilty. One of them was found guilty of murder
and sentenced to death. Was there anybody around to say this is not
fair? We feel that this is not fair but we didn't say anything because
this is what the court decided.
"In Malaysia, Karpal has been saying all kinds of nasty things. In fact
he should have been charged for something or other long ago. But he
wasn't. But what he said was obviously seditious otherwise the AG
(Attorney General) would not want to charge him.
"During the last election, lots of things were done by the opposition,
which is not according to the rules of the game. They intimidate people
on the day of polling. We said no campaigning but they campaigned all
the way. They escorted - er accosted - people who came to vote until
they were right inside the polling booth, and yet we didn't protest.
Because if we protest, people will say we are suppressing people. So we
are at the disadvantage. In Malaysia it would seem that the opposition
can break the law, but members of the government cannot even touch
anything that may be considered as breaking the law."
Is there a feeling that Umno needs a change to be relevant? Umno is very
sensitive to changes among the people, Dr M says, citing the New
Economic Policy and Umno's accommodation of other parties such as
Gerakan and PAS, for a while. He also takes another swipe at the
reformasi movement, which he describes as "a lot of sloganeering".
"Is there a need for reform? We think there is a need for reform. And
among the reforms that we need to think about is to free people from the
domination of the mind that is exercised by certain people who have made
use of religion. They have abused religion in order to dominate the
minds of certain people to the extent that these people are no longer
able to see other viewpoints.
He then explains how words such as "cronyism" are coined by people
outside Malaysia and how they have been latched on by certain
politicians - he names PRM president Dr Syed Husin Ali and former deputy
Anwar Ibrahim - and how these words have become slogans, "without
thinking".
It is somewhere after a long non-stop harangue by Dr M about
sloganeering and imported words like "cronyism" in the country, when
eyes are glazing over, that a woman in a white jacket, red undershirt
and thick eyeliner steps forward from the wall she has been leaning
against to take the microphone for questions. It is Ummi Hafilda. She
wishes both Dr M and Datin Siti Hasmah "selamat hari raya" and asks for
two minutes to speak in front of the crowd.
This is what she says: "Saya Ummi Hafilda bt Azmi yang terlibat secara
langsung dalam kes Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. Saya bukan datang dengan
Perdana Menteri, saya sudah sebulan tinggal di London kerana urusan
perniagaan. Jadi, tidak ada unsur konspirasi dan sebagainya.
"Saya ingin mengambil kesempatan. Sebagai seorang Islam, saya tahu kesan
bersumpah. Saya bersumpah dengan nama Allah - wallahi, wabillahi,
watallahi - saya tidak pernah diperalatkan oleh Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir
ataupun mana-mana tokoh politik ketika membuat surat salah laku itu. Apa
yang saya laporkan itu berdasarkan apa yang berlaku empat tahun yang
lalu bersama bukti yang saya kumpulkan.
"Saya mempunyai pengalaman terlalu pahit kerana dua tahun yang lalu,
Anwar menghantar polis menangkap saya. Saya didera sepanjang malam oleh
sembilan anggota polis. Saya terpaksa menarik balik surat itu sehingga
Perdana Menteri ditipu. Perdana Menteri telah membuat kenyataan hanya
orang gila dan bodoh sahaja yang akan percaya tetapi kuasa Allah
mengatasi segala-galanya.
When she mentions Dr M, Ummi looks briefly to him at the podium and the
crowd follows her gaze. Dr M is gripping the sides of the podium,
leaning on straight arms. His shoulders are hunched, and his head bent
down so that his face is unseen. He could be laughing like some in the
crowd are indiscreetly, but his hunched shoulders seem to convey an
attitude of both frustration and slight embarrassment. Ummi goes right
on.
"Setahun kemudian semua bukti dikumpulkan dan sebab itu Datuk Seri
mengambil satu tindakan yang begitu drastik demi menyelamatkan negara.
Tidak ada unsur pakatan. Saya tidak dapat satu sen pun - ya, Datuk Seri?
- daripada Datuk Seri. Apa yang berlaku adalah fakta yang dibentangkan.
"Jadi saya meminta maaf sekiranya majlis ini mengganggu dan sebagainya
tetapi saya perlu jelaskan banyak informasi yang salah dalam internet.
Terima kasih."
The entire speech comes out in an emotional rush ?? almost screeching
when she speaks of being tortured by the police. The tremble in her
voice begins with the first sentence and keeps a fine quaver all the way
through. The audience is completely gobsmacked. I find my own eyes
goggling throughout most of her speech. When Ummi steps back into the
crowd of people, the audience applauds her heartily, eyes bright and
faces smiling again.
Though Dr M smiles a bit in her direction as she disappears behind a
wall of people to his right, his entire body is turned away from her and
he jokes cryptically, "Saya takut hal ini jadi ?? walaupun kertas ini
putih tapi sebenarnya hitam." Then curtly, he faces the crowd and
continues, "OK, soalan?" No hands are in the air yet as everyone still
seems to be recovering from the outburst. Dr M takes off his light grey
suit and complains jokingly that London is hotter than even Malaysia,
which prompts further laughter from the crowd and the quick arrival of a
stand fan from the event organisers, although Dr M waves it away and
says he is alright.
After the talk, I went over to Ummi, introduced myself and asked if I
could question her a bit. She was a bit guarded but friendly, and
agreed. What prompted her to make this sudden speech? Calmly, she says
she just felt she had to make it. She just had to explain to all the
students here, after all the lies and gossip about her on the Internet,
that she had not been asked to implicate Anwar by Mahathir. "And what
Datuk Seri (Mahathir) did is a good thing ?? the right thing ?? it was a
good thing for the nation," she says urgently.
Although her voice is impassioned, Ummi?s powdered face keeps calm and
impassive. There is no further explanation to what prompted her to do
this here and now. When I ask her if there were any websites in
particular that she thought had lied about her, she looks a bit lost and
says no, it is just lies on the Internet. So she just had to justify
her stand against Anwar because of these? Yes, she says, nodding her
head. I thank her and she smiles briefly again as I leave. Part One:
Mahathir and Ummi in London
LEE TSE YIN is doing her masters in Southeast Asian studies at the
School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
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